The next ad in the guv race is the first to go on the attack. It’s a Matt Entenza ad and the campaign says it will start airing Monday (the day before Margaret Anderson Kelliher plans to launch her first ad). But the Entenza ad (below) is available via YouTube.

Until now, the guv ads have all been positive, biographical ads or ads highlighting one of the candidates’ positions. Folks have been wondering when things would get nastier.

Attack ads generally work, to some extent, at driving up the negatives of the target, but can also backfire on the sponsor, whom some voters will blame for dragging down the tone of the race. This is complicated in the dynamics of a three-way race. If A attacks B, the surest beneficiary is C.

But in this ad, the attackee is the Republican endorsee, Rep. Tom Emmer (A Bush Republican, a Sarah Palin endorsee, a Tim Pawlenty ally.) Since the race at this point is entirely for DFL voters (it’s primary) it’s a little hard to imagine DFLers who will be annoyed with Entenza for these characterizations. In fact, in DFL circles the biggest question primary voters have is which of the three DFLers will be most likely to beat Emmer. So Entenza stakes out the honor of first DFL contender to go after Emmer in a TV ad.

The first 15 seconds employ several of the familiar attack ad moves: black and white photos, pictures of the opponent with unpleasant expressions on his face, guilt by association, ominous music. Then, at the precise midpoint, the clouds, the music happys up and the candidates rides to the rescue. In this case, Entenza touts his record as a legislator opposing Pawlenty, then repeats Entenza’s idea of pulling Minnesota out of No Child Left Behind. Here’s the ad:

What think? Have a nice weekend.